Ever since my husband and I started dating, some 17 years ago now, we've always made each other something handmade for Valentine's Day. This used to be simple cards but in recent years the tradition has escalated to a highly competitive form of expressing our love for one another. A couple of weeks before Valentine's Day, we each disappear into our respective creative spaces to plan our "concept", which much remain highly secret until the big day. Supplies must be smuggled into the house and the other spouse kept out various rooms until the creation is complete.
For my offering this year, I chose this supercute amigurumi Ood from a fantastic free pattern from Megan DeLancey that I found on Ravelry. For the non-fan, the Ood is a creature from the BBC1 show Doctor Who. The Ood are a peaceful race, whom The Doctor (played by David Tenant) liberates from slavery in the fourth series with help from his companion, Donna (played by Catherine Tate).
My husband is a massive fan of Doctor Who and I thought this would be the ideal handmade gift, except for the small matter of making it. I have been crocheting for less than a year and my skills are significantly less advanced than my knitting ones (which aren't that advanced either).
Anyway, despite my ambition outstripping my competence, I set out in faith and bought some Rowan Creative Focus Worsted for the body and head. It was probably a fluffier yarn than ideal for crochet but I needed a proper buff colour so the white I used for the brain(!) would stand out properly.
I crocheted the body with a size F (3.75mm) hook. I made the two legs and then crocheted around them to start the body. I turned the crochet inside out so the "right" side was showing (I read about that in a book - it never seems to get mentioned in patterns though). I then switched to the buff coloured yarn for the head. I think I did an okay job of keeping the stitches tight, which is essential for amigurumi. However, my decreases for the top of the head were a bit holey so I patched them up a bit with a needle and yarn. Before completing the head, I attached the black safety eyes and stuffed the toy with fiber fill.
Funnily enough, the bit I found hardest was the Ood's arms. My treble crochet just didn't look right so I simplified the pattern a bit and hoped for the best. For the tentacles, I used some left over DK red and a size E (3.5mm) hook). They were a bit awkward to crochet as you start them with a slip stitch into the face so you don't have very much room to move. I don't think I did them quite correctly, but I don't think they look bad.
Finally, I made the brain from some leftover white DK and attached it the Ood's hand. I was secretly rather pleased with it when I'd finished and I'm very grateful to Megan for her ace pattern.
Come Valentine's Day, hubby was suitably impressed with his Ood and all the hard work I had put in. Then he ruined it by giving me this.
This is an 8mm crochet hook on which he has sculpted and painted a Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, my favourite film. He even made it a coffin shaped box. Hubby is sickeningly talented and his gift is always better than mine (his protests than my Ood was superior were a bit weak).
Maybe next year...
Melx
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